Episode 14 - Take a Moment to Renew

We’re coming off a full month of gathering, celebrating, giving, making things, hosting things, being things for other people. And even when those moments were joyful, they were still demanding. So today, I want to offer something different.

Not a push. Not a plan. But permission. Permission to renew.

Recently, my friend Jeri shared something that stopped me in my tracks. She said that after a big event, she intentionally allows herself time to re-enter life. I loved that phrase. Because so often we expect ourselves to move from full speed straight into full productivity—with no transition at all. But renewal happens in the re-entry.

One of the most important things I’ve learned—both personally and through research—is this: Much of our anxiety doesn’t come from the situation itself, but from how our mind translates the situation. Our nervous system doesn’t just react to events. It reacts to meaning. Dr. Caroline Leaf, a neuroscientist who studies the mind-brain connection, explains that our thoughts create physical responses in the body. The brain is constantly asking: Is this safe? Is this overwhelming? Is this too much? When we move too quickly, when we don’t give ourselves time to process, the nervous system stays in a state of alert.

So when January shows up and life “marches on,” we may feel: behind pressured scattered anxious for no clear reason Not because we’re failing— but because we haven’t allowed ourselves to renew the mind between seasons.

So the question becomes: How do we give ourselves permission to re-enter gently?